FUZHOU, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Winter is not the best season for tourists. Yet Wang Fazhi and his friends recently traveled for about two hours from Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian Province, to a coastal village -- Dongbi.

The 74-year-old retiree was attracted more by a homestay named "Time" in the village than by the seaside scenery. "I've been trying to book it since more than two months ago, and I only just succeeded recently," Wang said.

The Chinese name of the homestay, Shijianhai, means "picking up a piece of the sea." The hillside homestay boasts a full view of the ocean from its courtyard.

"The structure and decoration of Time fit perfectly with the local scenery, which I suppose is one of the reasons why it is so popular," Wang said.

With over 400 km of beautiful coastline, the county of Xiapu, which administers Dongbi, is now a popular destination for photographers and shutterbugs. But years ago, lacking any suitable accommodation, most visitors to the villages in Xiapu just came and left after they took their pictures.

The situation concerned Chen Shuman, owner of Time. Born in a village in Xiapu, Chen previously worked as a designer in Beijing for more than 10 years. As her job took her to many domestic and overseas places over the years, she always thought her hometown, with more beautiful scenery than most of the tourist destinations she had visited, deserved better development.

In 2016, Chen quit her well-paid job and moved to Xiapu with her husband. After a year of planning, she rented an old house in Dongbi and renovated it into a boutique homestay.

Since its opening, Time's unique design and comfortable surroundings have attracted a large number of tourists. Many heard about the homestay and Dongbi via the Internet. The homestay now has 30 rooms and accommodates about 40,000 guests annually.

Across China, boutique homestays like Time are giving impetus to rural tourism. No longer just infrastructure that supports local tourism, many of them have become attractions in their own right.

On Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like Chinese fashion and lifestyle sharing platform, photos taken by influencers at picturesque boutique homestays like those in Xiapu usually garner thousands of likes.

According to a report released by the State Information Center in July 2020, when the domestic tourism industry sought to recover after being hit hard by COVID-19, the demand for rural homestays was one of the earliest sectors to rebound: during the Qingming Festival holiday in 2020, orders for rural homestays accounted for more than 70 percent of all orders received by Xiaozhu, a homestay reservation platform.

In Chen's eyes, boutique homestays are different from both hotels and guesthouses run by local villagers in their homes. "Boutique homestays should focus on aesthetic design, and in most cases be in line with the local scenery," said Chen. "They should also meet quality demands."

Now, several more boutique homestays have been opened in Dongbi. "Because of the cluster effect, the homestays here are attracting more visitors," said Guo Hong, owner of "One Stay," a homestay neighboring Time and opening in October 2020.

Nearly one hour's drive from Dongbi, the original site of Meihua Village, which is also administered by Xiapu, the hill used to be lifeless and was dotted with a handful of deserted houses, as most villagers moved down the slopes in search of more convenient transportation.

Since last year, some of these dilapidated houses have been converted into homestays, attracting people back to the old village to enjoy the peace and beauty of the mountainous area.

Xiapu now has more than 300 rural homestays, nearly 30 of which are boutique homestays like Time. It receives more than 650,000 visitors every year with its annual turnover reaching nearly 190 million yuan (about 29.32 million U.S. dollars).

"The development of homestays not only boosts rural tourism and the economy but also preserves the old memories of rural life," said Zheng Dexiong, president of the homestay industry association in Xiapu.